I can’t believe we finally made it to the LAUNCH of the newsletter! I’ve been working on this idea for over a year now and honestly never thought I’d get to a launch date! This update is for those of you who subscribed to this list in order to keep up with our family. I’m looking forward to sharing honest information about our lives with those of you who are interested in hearing about it.

As an aside, those of you who’ve followed my journey as a part owner of the Instagram shop Thirdhand Finds may be excited to learn that I will be dedicating a portion of this website to sharing and selling (yes, and SHIPPING!) special finds with you all. Keep an eye on the newsletter for the first word on when that will be launched and what types of items you might find!

Without further ado, here is the life update for the Lowes!

First (for those of you following our Return to Amsterdam journey), and update:

Nothing has happened.

Covid up-ended a lot of our hopes for the past and coming year, so we’re waiting right now to see where things go during 2021. We now have all the necessary documents to travel abroad, but otherwise we’ve not made any progress. We’re open to moving this year if God moves in super clear, big ways, and also open to waiting longer. Right now our biggest item on the agenda pre-move is to get our house ready for rental (AirBnB, hopefully). If anyone out there is interested in doing manual labor in exchange for meals and drinks hit us up…no, I have no shame.

On to other news!

As for most people, Covid changed our plans and lives this past February/ March. We did what almost everyone else in America did during those first few months- tackle the yard, plant a big garden, and revel in all the ‘free time’ we now had. As time went on it became clear that the landscape of our lives was shifting, and through the next five months, we did our best to shift as needed to accommodate our jobs, kids, community, health, and lives.

In late August, Kevin and I went from ‘nope, we’re done having kids’ to deciding to try for a third sweet Lowe babe, and within two weeks of making that decision we found out we were pregnant. The first trimester is historically a hard one for me, though thankfully I don’t struggle with excessive vomiting (I actually realized this time around that my fear of throwing up may actually be forcing my body to keep everything down), but I tend to struggle in the ways almost all moms do those first twelve weeks. Weight gain, extreme nausea, prenatal depression, exhaustion, and plummeting motivation/drive are all typical for me.

When we decided to try for this baby, God gave me the words Joy and Peace in relation to this pregnancy. I held on to that those first few weeks, and around 10 weeks a friend in our weekly prayer group prayed over me. He asked God to remove the nausea and depression and to allow His joy and peace to fill me up for the rest of the pregnancy. Two days later, the nausea left for good. A few weeks later I realized that if I took vitamin D supplements consistently, I could almost completely eliminate the Prenatal Depression (this had not been the case in prior pregnancies). I won’t wax long on all the ways God has come through again and again during this pregnancy, making good on promises he gave me before I began this journey, but suffice it to say He’s been here and he’s been faithful to his promises. I have normal, third-time-pregnant-at-30-years-old pregnancy symptoms but it’s been different this time somehow. He’s not necessarily changed how my body handles pregnancy, but he’s filling me with hope and joy as the days march onward.

We’ve decided to pursue a home birth for this baby, and we are very confident and at peace with this decision. I’ve hired my dream team to support me through pregnancy, labor, and postpartum, and the boys couldn’t be more thrilled to have this baby be born in our very own house. We’re praying that nothing will risk us out of care before the time comes, but confident that no matter what, God is with us and he is for us. Kevin is excited about having the baby in our home and I’m looking forward to having him as my main support person through the labor! Little Kev has watched about 20 home birth videos so far. He asks all the questions and knows all about how a woman’s body moves a baby from the inside to the outside. He knows how the placenta works, and knows now (after many, many discussions) that it’s ok and won’t hurt the baby when we cut the cord. He’s asked if he can be the one to ‘help get the baby out’ while Grey helps Nana bake a cake for the baby in kitchen. I’m dead. He’s so sweet. I’m so thankful for his awe and enthusiasm for birth, and I’m hopeful that things will go well enough for him to experience it in the ways he wants when the time comes!

Kevin is still in thesis writing, working odd jobs, helping-manage-our-house-while-I-build-a-baby mode. This past Summer he was asked by our church to oversee the pilot of a recovery program that our church decided to launch (through a church called Watermark). The program is called ReGen and it uses the AA 12 steps as well as rich-but-accessible theology to move people from stuck-points to freedom. It’s an intensive deep dive into each of the 12 Steps but is built to help people with anything from anxiety and control addiction to drug recovery. It’s been hugely impactful in my own life as I (along with a few others) have taken the pilot course in order to hopefully help lead the launch next year!

Kevin also takes care of our grocery orders and meal plans each Sunday while I work on my jobs (Sunday is the one day I can focus on aaaallll the work tasks!), takes over with the boys each the morning from 6:30 until around 7:45am (to let me sleep a little extra due to the whole ‘not sleeping great’ thing), and keeps us all moving forward through the weeks and months. He’s an incredible blessing to me and does so, insanely much to keep our family going.

While we had to drop the Saturday Morning Open Door Brunches this year due to Covid, during the Summer we started a weekly prayer night for believers from any church/denomination to join. It’s morphed a few times into what it is now: a group of people who love Jesus looking to do life intentionally in community with each other. We’ve hosted it in our living room, and start each night with a meal around our dining room table together. We follow the meal with communion, communication together, and communication with the Father with and for each other. We’ve been GREATLY encouraged by our friends who’ve become like family through this process. Each week a different person leads our prayer/talk/study time in the way they choose, and we’re learning so much from each other already.

We decided due to all the restrictions this school year to homeschool Kev instead of having him attend school. He’s LOVED every aspect of school, although he’s had to adjust to the lack of a classroom full of students. We’ve done our best to continue connecting with friends, going fun places, and meeting for park dates through the year. Those times have helped fill his extroverted heart up in ways that I can’t fill alone. He is SO caring, SO articulate, and SO curious. His energy has expanded this year and he keeps me on my toes by constantly asking hard questions and looking for real answers. We’ve learned to take his communication seriously, not to laugh at his responses, and be as honest as we can be when answering his questions.

Currently he’s reading three and four letter words, learning how to create and understand patterns and simple math, and learning how to put together sentences. It’s so fun to see him grow! I’ve also discovered that my own issues with math extend to teaching a kindergarten child, so I’m figuring out how to make this work for us both…if anyone wants to come teach math in first grade to this kid let me know… He loves all things related to the human body, reading, board games, puzzles, and autobots. It’s been such a joy to see his world drastically expand this year and to watch his eyes open more and more to the beauty and wonder around him.

As of last week, Grey has graduated from all therapy! We went from him still needing a bottle this summer due to nutritional deficits (he wouldn’t eat much of anything due to extreme food anxiety) to NO LONGER HAVING A BOTTLE IN THE HOUSE (for him to use, that is)! Guys, this is huge. He’ll be three in April and it’s an incredible encouragement to see how confident he is with food and trying all the things! We’re so thankful to our food therapist who really worked miracles in helping him learn to approach food without terror, then lead him to excitedly trying unfamiliar things. (For more on our food journeys from newborn to toddler, leave a comment. I may write a post on it all soon- it was a crazy few years!)

Grey talks very clearly, articulates his emotions (for the most part….) clearly, and helps us know what he’s needing when he’s upset (a HUGE turnaround from this time last year!). He LOVES fuzzy blankets and tiny stuffed animals, his BrBr (a very soft, microwavable elephant weighted with lavender seeds), naptime, and ‘being cozy’. He’s extremely sensitive, and if we correct him we pretty much always have to follow it up with ‘we’re not mad, you just can’t do X. We still love you so much!’ with lots of hugging and snuggles before he’s no longer hurt. I love seeing his super empathetic personality emerging! He’s VERY attached to mom, shy of new people and situations, and doesn’t hand out affection quickly. He’s juuuuust starting to master putting puzzles together and is VERY proud of this new accomplishment. He ADORES his older brother and is excited about meeting his little brother (although he’s not quite as excited as Kev is…we’re all waiting to see how that goes…). He does have a newfound love of babies that we’re hoping will extend to the baby coming to live with him in late May or early June.

SO! There you have it! Our life updates! This was a bit bigger than these updates will be in the future simply due to being mostly off of social media for the last several months. Now that you’re all caught up, these updates will be less novel-sized and more bite-sized— for all our sakes.

If you’re still reading this, I applaud you. Seriously, I appreciate your interest in our lives! If you have a burning question that I didn’t answer, a question sparked by something mentioned above, or just a general comment, feel free to leave it below (or send me an email)!

I’m thankful for each one of you and can’t wait to see how this year unfolds with you on my team!

-Leslie